Path Of Least Resistance
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Charlie finds a companion in a dragon at the enclosure, but she seems to know more than she let's on.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or ****trademark infringement is intended.**

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Word Count: 1269

Title: Path Of Least Resistance

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Ollivanders: Dragon heartstring: Write about Charlie Weasley.

* * *

Hogwarts:

Assignment 3: Magical Law and Government- Task 4 - Write about a creature with high intelligence

Yearly:

Prompt 235 [Dialogue] "It's a gift." / "Uh huh. Or a curse."

Word 63 [Word] Fresh

* * *

Charlie was busy in his tiny garden attached to his open-plan bachelors flat. He didn't mind working with his hands, working with dragons was messy work. The fresh mountain air was invigorating.

"Hey Charlie," Ryan said, making him look up from his flowers.

"Hey, man, what you doing here?" he asked, putting down his tools. "Pull up a chair," he said, taking a plastic white garden chair for Ryan and himself to sit down.

"Well, I have some exciting news," he replied. Charlie was curious, he knew Ryan was the biggest gossip in the area, and he knew everything and everyone.

"What's the scoop?" Charlie asked with a grin.

"They found a Canadian Chatticus female," he said with a tone of someone carrying a great secret.

"Wow! Really?" he asked. "It's been over fifty years that the enclosure had one of them," Charlie added.

"And you would never guess who found her," Ryan continued.

"Spill it," Charlie insisted.

"Draco Malfoy," he said with a grin. Charlie groaned loudly.

"That's ridiculous," Charlie muttered.

* * *

Charlie arrived at work, not ready to deal with the spoiled brat that was Malfoy. He knew that Malfoy would milk this as best he can to get in with their superiors. He was lucky he didn't see him around before he went to the dragon enclosure.

He saw the beautiful female dragon laying in the enclosure and recognized the signs of pregnancy at once. He had a flask of water in his hand as he walked towards the fence of the compound.

"She's incredible," he whispered to himself. He had never quite connected to humans the way he did with dragons. Her scales were purple- a dark hue, and they sparkled beneath the afternoon sunlight.

The Canadian Chatticus was one of the largest dragon species around, and when her eyes were open, they were a bright blue colour. There was a bump that to the untrained eye meant nothing, but a dragon trainer could tell it said a baby dragon was on the way.

The species lived almost entirely around the Canadian shorelines of the Atlantic Ocean. They loved water and lived most of the fish.

She opened one beady eye and looked right at him.

"Where the hell am I?" She said suddenly, surprising him.

"You're awake," he replied.

"So it would seem," she said, looking down her long nose at him. Charlie couldn't help but smile, something about the dragon just screamed confidence.

"I'm Charlie, and you're in the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary," he explained, examining her in case she panicked.

"Oh, dad was from here," she said, something in her eyes told him more than what she was admitting.

"I lost my father recently as well," Charlie admitted reluctantly.

"No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear," she said sadly.

"Is that how you got into the accident?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, I was crying while I flew and didn't notice the large tree," she explained. Charlie nodded; he always seemed to connect with dragons easily.

"I'm Leah," she added.

"Nice to meet you, you say your father has been here before?" He asked he was curious to learn as much as he could about her.

"Yeah, Brutus," she said proudly. Brutus and Deanna had become celebrities when the Chatticus became almost extinct, and they helped restore the numbers in leaps and bounds.

"Wow, I'm in the presence of a celebrity!" Charlie exclaimed with a smile. Leah instantly liked this redheaded man. It wasn't often someone understood her this well.

Just then, Draco Malfoy walked up, and upon hearing this, he said sarcastically: "You ought to be used to it by now."

"Harry isn't a celebrity," Charlie said, trying to calm himself.

Draco laughed. "I meant myself, Weasley," he said with a smirk. Charlie couldn't help it, and this man just had a way of getting under his skin.

"You just have a way of ruining my entire day," he bit at Malfoy.

"It's a gift," Malfoy said, bowing.

"Uh huh. Or a curse," Leah muttered from behind him. Malfoy gave a wicked grin before pushing Charlie over, making him fall into a pile of mud.

"Mother trucker, dude! That hurt like a butt cheek on a stick." Charlie exclaimed loudly. Malfoy left after that comment without another word, looking smug.

"I should not be left in charge of stuff like this. I don't get paid enough. I don't get paid period." Charlie muttered softly at the blonds retreating head.

Leah chuckled at his comment. "It ain't good form, you know," she said, causing him to look up curiously.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Letting him get to you," she said jerking her head in the direction Malfoy disappeared.

"You wouldn't understand," he said reluctantly.

"Try me," she replied, watching him with her big blue eyes.

"One hundred percent of my brain power is being used on not murdering Malfoy," he said, but took a seat and proceeded to explain the complicated situation between them.

* * *

_It was just after the war ended when Charlie found out that Draco Malfoy was planning on volunteering at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. He saw this place like home, and he wasn't planning on letting a brat come in and take over. Charlie knew that Draco Malfoy had been one of Voldemort's followers, and was particularly to blame for the death of Arthur Weasley. _

_"Hi, I'm Charlie," he introduced himself, holding out his hand. He was intent on being professional no matter what. Draco looked at him, eyes raised and didn't take his hand. _

_"You're filthy," he said. _

_"We work with dragons," Charlie replied quickly. He always managed to keep his calm until this man came into his life. He ever imagined that time would have helped the Slytherin mature, but he was still acting the same way his brother spoke about him. _

_There was nothing Charlie could do to change the Slytherin's mind. His resistance held firm._

* * *

"Nobody has control over life and death unless they're taking lives and causing deaths," Leah said, interrupting his story.

"He is to blame for my father's death, and he helped the man who killed him," Charlie insisted.

"But didn't you say his family were in with the wrong crowd and he was trying to save them?" she asked.

"I didn't…" he trailed off. He had never thought about it that way.

Leah nodded when he had no comeback. "Choose the path of least resistance," she advised.

"Interesting, thank you," Charlie replied. He never thought about it that way. Malfoy had been trying to save his family, just like Charlie would have done in the same position.

Leah had soon decided she would stay until her baby was born. She started to form a close bond with Charlie. But what was shocking was how well she got on with Draco Malfoy when nobody else was around.

It was just before Leah was about to give birth that she realised these two men were romantically interested in one another, but neither knew how to approach the other one. She felt her mother would be proud if she managed to get the two stubborn men together.

She managed to call both of them together. When they realised what was going on, they both looked at her to explain.

"You two need to talk," she insisted stubbornly. "You two have feelings for each other."

They were watching each other, and both of them blushed as she said that. She waddled off with her pregnant belly and left the two men to consider what she had said, and what it meant for them to come...


End file.
